1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to coin telephone mounting, and more particularly to improved means for mounting a coin telephone in a recessed opening dimensioned to closely embrace the side walls of the coin telephone housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vandalism to public or coin telephones has long been a serious problem to the industry and the substantial increase in the incidence of such vandalism in recent years has resulted in a corresponding increase in efforts to design more secure coin telephones and coin telephone mounting systems. One important development in coin telephone security mounting involves recessing the telephone housing in an opening which closely embraces the side walls of the housing, making it impossible to pry the telephone from the mounting with the prying tool inserted behind the housing by denying access to the juncture of the mounting plate and housing. Such a telephone mounting is illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,927.
It is conventional practice to secure a public telephone to a mounting plate by use of a plurality of headed screw fasteners extending through spaced openings in the back wall of the telephone housing and engaging correspondingly spaced threaded openings in the mounting plate. Once the telephone instrument and coin box are installed, the heads of the fasteners located within the housing are inaccessible except by use of a key.
Aligning the plurality of openings in the back wall of the telephone housing with the corresponding threaded openings in a vertical mounting plate, and holding the telephone in alignment while installing the threaded fasteners presents problems for the installer, and a number of aligning and support pins have been employed on the back wall of the telephone housing in position to engage guide openings in the mounting plate to accurately align the two elements and to partially support the telephone housing during installation of the mounting screws. An additional security feature has been obtained by substituting strong, headed studs for the aligning pins, with the head on the studs being dimensioned to pass through the larger diameter portion of generally keyhole-shaped aligning openings, and the body or shank of the studs being dimensioned to closely engage the smaller diameter section of the keyhole-shaped openings. Thus, by placing the back wall of the telephone housing in surface-to-surface contact with the mounting plate, and with the security studs projecting through the keyhole-shaped openings, the telephone housing is then slid vertically downward along the mounting plate to engage the small diameter portion of the keyhole-shaped opening with the stud shank and to engage the stud head with the back surface of the mounting plate. The studs then firmly hold the housing during installation of the threaded fasteners, with the fasteners and studs cooperating to interlock the mounting plate and housing. Thus, the mounting studs may provide an additional element of security against forceable removal of the instrument from the mounting plate, and such studs are now generally referred to as security studs.
Coin telephones installed in recessed openings in a rigid mounting structure such as the security post shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,927, mentioned above, do not require the aligning pins or headed mounting studs since relative movement between the internal mounting wall and telephone housing is prevented by the close fit between the periphery of the opening and the adjacent housing walls. This close fit serves to accurately align the telephone instrument and mounting wall so that the screw fasteners can readily be installed by a single person, the only requirement being that the installer manually hold the instrument housing within the opening until at least one mounting screw is installed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,244 discloses a coin telephone mounting system in which the telephone instrument is mounted in a rectangular metal box-like structure which is intended to be attached to a wall or recessed into an opening in a wall. The mounting system employs a slideable latching plate mounted for limited movement within a chamber in the box-like structure for securing the telephone instrument to a mounting wall spaced from the rear wall of the box. The sliding plate includes keyhole-shaped openings for engaging the security studs, and threaded openings for receiving the threaded fasteners which pass through the mounting plate to clamp the mounting plate between the instrument housing and sliding plate. The telephone instrument is hinged to the metal box and may be swung open independently of movement of the locked coin box beneath the telephone instrument, and at least a portion of the mounting screws threaded into the sliding plate are located behind the locked coin box for increased security. The clamping force exerted on the mounting plate by the mounting screws prevent vertical movement of the instrument and the sliding plate.